Sunday, August 18, 2013

[Toy] *Review* 3A WWR EMGY Dropcloth 1.5

Toy has posted a new item, '*Review* 3A WWR EMGY Dropcloth 1.5'

INTRO
ThreeA, to me, has always been about robots. Even now, with all their Tomorrow
Kings, Tommy Mission, Zombs and pointy chested, long legged vixens, big ol rusty
robots are the first thing that pops into my head whenever the toy company comes
up. It was in fact a random image of a WWRp Dirty Deeds Bertie that first caught
my attention and led me, cash clinched in hand, to ThreeAs doorstep. A few
purchases under my belt later, still wide-eyed and bushy tailed as one tends to
be when their toe is first dipped into ThreeA waters, I set out with the
seemingly obtainable goal to get one of each kind of bot in my collection. At
first, I was keeping to the smaller, more obtainable bots thinking the larger
bot were just too expensive for someone like me who planned to only be a casual
collector with a tidy, reasonable collection. Ha! If I only knew then what I
know now.
A month or so into my earnest collecting, I accidentally purchased a incredibly
well priced, WWR Dropcloth Slaughterhouse. At the time, I didnt have a solid
understanding of the various labels 3A tossed on their various lines, so the
lack of the letter p generally tagged on the end of the WWR,escapedmy notice.
Ifoolishly believed it to be another 1/12th bot given the reasonable cost.
Foolishly or not, when the dual hatchet wielding, 1/6 bot arrived on my
doorstep, I was thrilled. While a WWRp Bertie reeled me in, it was definitely a
WWR Droppie that truly sunk its hooks in. Dropcloths were and still are my
favorite robots from ThreeAs arsenal of cool toys. Theyre just so pose-able and
fun to play around with. Also, their reasonable scale makes them easy to collect
and display with a variety of other sized figures. Ive rotated out, bought and
sold quite a bit of my collection over the years for one reason or another, but
I have one bot that is securely locked into my if there was a house fire, grab
that mental category, the WWR EMGY Dropcloth.
In my opinion, hes simply the coolest looking bot I own, standing front and
center on my shelf.
The EMGY colorway is understandably popular. In many cases, its rarity seems to
be the driving point. But for me, its the stark use of rusty yellow paired with
dark black, silver and most importantly, red. Since the first EMGY WWRp bertie
(speaking of rare), the EGMY color-way has gone through various changes. Newer
bots, like Caesar and particularly Armstrong skipped the red accents altogether.
It might seem like such a small thing, but in my opinion, its absence caused the
newer bots to come out looking a lot less exciting than the original. Even the
EMGY grunt, which I think is just a sick figure to have, lacks basically any
other color accents at all, leaving him with a color scheme an interior designer
might refer to as, the dirty banana.
When ThreeA teased us with the first Dropcloth follow up back at SDCC 2012, the
Dropcloth 1.5, I was pretty excited. When it wasannouncedthat the EMGY color-way
would be among the first available, I was even more excited. Once I saw that the
paint app would be a return to EMGY glory days (ie: reds, blacks and silvers) I
may have fist pumped the air, shouted, YEAH BABY! and held that pose for moment,
freeze frame style, in true 80s tradition.
ThreeA once again made the EMGY drop a random rare drop, despite its popularity.
On the plus side, it was a rare drop seemingly far more obtainable than any
other Ive experienced. In fact, the first time I logged onto bambaland during
the sale (which featured Peaceday as the regular drop) I saw EGMY up and
purchased him with little fuss. Almost every other time I checked the site, he
was still there. I like to think that whoever wanted him at the time had a
pretty good opportunity to snag him.
With my personal EMGY history deets out of the way, I am thrilled to finally
have EMGY 1.5 in my hands. Keep reading to see how well I think he stacks up to
the OG.
Here we go..
In a hurry? Already tired of words? Check out the video review on our new
YouTube channel!

PACKAGING

Ah yes. Im happy to report that we have some beautiful, Ashely Wood art taking
up the majority of the front side of the packaging. On the back and side you can
see Brent Ashes (the lead technical designer for 3A) handy work. Its a well
conceived, nice looking design that embraces and combines 3as old and new
package art styles andultimatelylooks pretty darn handsome on the shelf.
Golf clap, fellahs.
A quirky, cool story is on the back bottom panel discussing the bloody misuse of
the EMGY 1.5 bots during a Peaceday parade.. calling back to the original
(awesome) story, to get your imaginationjuicesflowing. One can only hope well
see a full comic or a follow up to the WWR books someday to really flesh this
world out.
You also get a cool weaponload outdiagram that lets you know clearly whats
standard and secondary. Seeing that had me lost in thought of just how coolitd
be to play a WWR RTS or FPS game.. oh the fun that could be had. (ThreeA, make
it happen.)

WHATS INCLUDED

As is becoming more and more the case with WWR releases, EMGY comes LOADED
withaccessories. One thing thatimmediatelystands out is that all the gear is
brand new and unique to the Dropcloth 1.5 line. The standard load-out includes
dual (holstered) pistols, a submachine gun, a close-quarters shotgun and a
really cool cleaver-esque knife. Unique to ol EMGY is the ever cool strapped
riot baton (not seen since the OG EMGY Dropcloth) and of course, theinfamousriot
shield.

Suffice to say, you have a LOT of options to play around with.
Man, I love EMGY.
THE BREAKDOWN

Man, that toxic smell. Some love it, some hate it. I find a sense of nostalgia
in it, but dude, EMGY was loaded with it when I unpacked him. Toe to toe with
Stinkor from MOTU in odoriferousness. From 3As factories to my front door. Heres
hoping theres some chemical safety regulations at play.. otherwise, in my small
office littered with 3A toys,health-wise, Im screwed.
So first impression, he looks.. friendly? Not what I expected to think right out
the box. Those two eyes between the popped metal collar, make him look almost
cute in a way. Like, dangerous.. but friendly. In a way, it makes sense. If
these are designed to interact with humans, the only point of the eyes is to
humanize them and make us fleshys feel more comfortable. Its definitely a
different vibe than I get from my OG EMGY Droppy.

So lemme check out this paint job. Mmhmm.. MmHmm.I think it looks good great
even. The weathering is looking quite nice. Its something that 3A is known for
of course. Upon closer inspection and when compared to my OG Dropcloth, theres
quite a few apparent differences. Hes a LOT more orange, but you can tell theres
more layers at work here. The OG is a bright yellow, with its key weathering
element being basically rusty sponge marks applied liberally all over the place.
A few inky drips and some dark edge work and hes done. The new 1.5 has what
appears to be 3 base layers, a dark steel layer, and bright yellow (similar to
the OG) followed by thedominantburnt orange layer. Theres still sponge marks,
though not as heavy as before, coupled with several cross-hatch like brush marks
all over. These are very apparent on his legs, which are almost brown from the
amount of heavy weathering.

Some fans may be turned off by the fact that the yellow/orange of the 1.5 doesnt
match the yellow of.. well, ANY of the other EMGY bots, but its hard to argue
that on his own, he looks really nice. If the 1.5 is an update, then it makes
some sense that 3A would attempt to try new and improved methods with their
paint application. Whether it looks better or not is going to becompletelyup to
the individual.Even if the off-yellow throws you the red and silver accents
should bring you back in. They look ever bit as cool as youd want them to and
give us thelegitimateEMGY color scheme weve been wanting since the first time we
saw it.

Articulation is vastly improved on the 1.5 in almost everyconceivablearea.
Double joints at the neck and shoulders allow just a bit more wiggle room.
Droppies feet have two hinges in them to assist in making your Hey, Im walking
here! pose that much more believable. The old thumb joint is gone and in its
place is a much more forgiving ball joint. Its not new as its been seen on a few
other bots already, but its an update from the original Dropcloths.

On both his forearms, we have two ultra-cool shield. Each shield can also
beswiveledaround to allow for various load-out and pose options. Basically, if
theyre in your way, you can move them. Id also like to mention how much I like
the dark paint on the shields, they feature some of the best weathering on the
entire bot.

Probably the biggest update to ol droppy is his double-jointed elbows. Its a
little thing, but seems to make a pretty big difference in the sort of poses
youre able to get out of him thanks to their inclusion. Its a first for a 3A bot
and makes the range of the already highly articulated Dropcloth, that much more
extensive.

The legs on the 1.5 seem to lack any noticeable difference from those of their
older brothers. Whats there is pretty great already, but I was hoping the area
where the leg connected to the hip would have been refined a little bit to allow
for a wider stance.

If there was one thing that carried over from the original Dropcloths that I
really, REALLY wish 3A would have altered.. its the way the bags attach. While
some of the dangling ones are nicely attached by (black!) plastic clips, the
sacks on his hips have a thin strap that simply feed down through some (very)
snug loops sewn into the hip of his (her?) skirt. Theyll stay put probably 99%
of the time, but theres nothing really securing them. The pain comes when one
slips out why youre posing him, or heck, removing a pistol from its holster. You
literally need a tool(s) to feed the strap back down through the wee loops. On
some of my previous Dropcloths, the straps were long enough that I could twist
and tie them together to fastened them better, no such luck this time around.
Its a small annoyance thats unique to Dropcloths and has bugged me since
practically day one of collecting 3A.. looks like itll continue to do so.

All the accessories look pretty fantastic and are a ton of fun to mix and match
for your setup. Ive heard some complain about the size of the shotgun, but to me
it works well. It basically looks like something a SWAT team would use in close
quarters combat. Sawed off with a grip to help with the recoil.

The new knife, as I mentioned earlier, is something completely new, looking more
like a cleaver than and combat knife. I really like it. If a Slaughterhouse 1.5
is released however, 3A will need to do something to make him stand out more
since cleavers are kinda his thing.

Theres also the classic EMGY Droppy baton. Im pretty sure its the exact same one
the OG EMGY had, which is a good thing!

You also have a sub-machine gun and some dual pistols at your disposal. I stated
earlier that all the weapons were unique and new to 1.5, but the pistols are
actually the same ones weve come to know and love from the OG Dropcloths. If it
aint broke..

The accessory thats probably gotten the most press has been EMGYs shield. A
favorite accessory for collectors, many weredisappointedwhen photos of the new
shield started to pop up. It seems 3A couldnt leave well enough alone and
decided to redesign/paint the whole thing.

My first reaction to the photos was the same as a lot of other peoples, Oh no!
What have they done? It just didnt look very good. Blotchy yellow paint
surrounded by ugly brown smears. A EMGY icon that was seemingly drawn on by a 4
year old. I definitely got why people were getting upset and I found myself
siding with the throng of pitchfork wielders.
But then I saw another picture that seemingly displayed a sense of depth and
even realism, causing me to question my first take. While waiting on mine to
arrive, Ive seen peoples posted pictures that make the shield look pretty darn
great, and others that make it look like it was painted with crayons and baby
feces. I decided to reserve my judgement and keep an open mind until I had it in
hand.

So finally in hand and out of the box, sitting in front of me I can with all
honesty say Huh.
It aint bad. In fact, Id probably say its more realistic than the old shields.
Theres depth to it, much like the paint on the EMGY himself, and more layers
than youd expect just looking at the photos. The brown is actually
verymetallicand looks like good, worn out, rusty metal. The paint that appeared
so soft and smudgy to me in photos online, actually makes good visual sense up
close. Its a nice, realistic effect.
So its more realistic, but is it better?

In the end, Ill be placing this guy up with my other EMGY crew, all of who are
wielding similarly painted and weathered shields. Right now, it looks
harmonious, as most want their crew or colorway of choice to look, but the new
shield is going to stick out like a sore thumb.
Even without that concern, standing on its own, I think where I find real issue
derives from exactly what I was saying earlier.. up close, it looks realistic,
up close, you can see the depth, up close, you can tell theres some great
techniques at work. However, take a few steps away, all you can see is a
strange, bold and distracting pattern that doesnt look or feel like anything
else in your collection. From three feet away, It reads more like a bad camo
pattern, than rust and chipped paint.
In short, where the paint application has gained technique and possibly
sophistication, it sorely lacks any harmony and visual
congruence.Particularlywhen paired with any of your other EMGY, shield-bearing,
figures.

FINAL WORD

I gotta say, Im incredibly happy with how the EMGY Dropcloth 1.5 came out. I
think 3A knocked it out of the park in the majority of its innovations and
improvements from the original. Its hard to compare new to old, because the OG
has such a special place in my toy collecting heart, but toy to toy, the 1.5 is
probably a better toy. Whatever that means.
I feel like the Dropcloth 1.5 is a good example of how ThreeA is working to
improve and advance everything theyre doing production-wise. Tweaked and
improved articulation, a more detailed and layered paint application and a
butt-ton of weapons to fiddle with. It may not thrill everyone that the paint
isnt the exact same or a perfect match with the rest of their EMGY crew, but I
almost see it as a necessary evil in the process. Itll be interesting to see how
other well known color-ways will fair, if and when theyre released in the
future.

The shield is just something that youll have to decide how you feel about it
yourself. I know some will love it from the moment they grip it in their eager,
balmy hands. Ive read recent comments from some people who were adamantly and
vocally against the new paint work, only to decide they liked it MORE than the
old version once they had it in-hand. Of course others stand by their opinion
that itll only be fit for display once its repainted the right way. Until then,
it shall remain in the confines of its packaging, never to feel the sun on its
blotchy yellow and brown skin.

Im not exactly sure how Ill handle mine just yet. I know for sure I wont be
leaving it in the box like some uselessor unloved accessory. One of my favorite
things about this guy is just how many different poses and combinations are
possible with him. The shield alone gives you quite a few! In the long run, I
may not display mine front and center along side my current EMGY setup, but I
think Im going to figure out a way to strap it to his back, ala Captain America
or something.

All in all, I think ThreeA did a top-notch job with the EMGY Dropcloth 1.5. Its
their most articulated and pose-able bot yet. Hes also loaded up with more
unique accessories than any previous ThreeA figure to date.
For those like me who started collecting ThreeA around the same time the
original Dropcloths came out, I think the 1.5 heralds back to those days. It
should give you that nostalgic tug you were hoping for, while still delivering
something fresh.For those who are just starting to get into ThreeA and the 1.5
is the first bot in your collection.. oh the slippery slope youve stumbled upon,
my friends.
Give your wallet my condolences.

PROS:

A very solid and worthy upgrade to one of the most outstanding toy robots ThreeA
has to offer
Nice weathering and paint application
Tons of accessories to mess with!
Great enhanced articulation over the previous version

CONS:

I think the shield paint work is pretty good, but its not at all cohesive with
the rest of the figure which causes it to stick out like a sore thumb on the
shelf
While the paint application itself is great on Droppy 1.5, the fact he favors
orange more than the traditional yellow of previous EMGY figs will bother some
collectors.
A few missed opportunities for detail work (ie: EMGYs eyes are blank, where
Peacedays were painted and some areas of cloth are untouched by weathering)